The Last Taxi Ride: A Ranjit Singh Novel, by A. X. Ahmad
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The Last Taxi Ride: A Ranjit Singh Novel, by A. X. Ahmad
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An NPR Best Book of 2015!
New York City taxi driver Ranjit Singh, hero of A.X. Ahmad's heralded debut The Caretaker, has 10 days to prove his innocence...
Bollywood film icon Shabana Shah has been murdered, her body found in the apartment where Ranjit ate dinner mere hours before. Ranjit's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a statue of the elephant god Ganesh used to grotesquely smash the actress' beautiful face. Caught on film leaving the apartment alone, Ranjit is accused by the NYPD as an accessory to murder.
Ranjit's only credible alibi is Shabana's Indian doorman, but he has vanished. With a Grand Jury arraignment looming in 10 days, and Ranjit's teenage daughter about to arrive from India, he must find the doorman. His search through the underbelly of New York leads to the world of high-end nightclub owners, back-alley Mumbai gangsters and to Jay Patel, a shady businessman who imports human hair. As his investigation for the true killer reveals layers of Shabana Shah's hidden past, Ranjit does not know whom to trust. He can rely only on his army training, his taxi-driver knowledge of New York, and his cabbie friends. With time quickly running out, can Ranjit clear his name before his fare is up? The Last Taxi Ride is the second novel in the Ranjit Singh trilogy.
The Last Taxi Ride: A Ranjit Singh Novel, by A. X. Ahmad - Amazon Sales Rank: #708833 in Books
- Published on: 2015-06-16
- Released on: 2015-06-16
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.88" h x .99" w x 5.69" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
The Last Taxi Ride: A Ranjit Singh Novel, by A. X. Ahmad From Booklist This sequel to The Caretaker (2013) is another solid success for Ahmad, who conjures up a fascinating cast of characters from mobsters to cab drivers, illuminating South Asian expat culture and exploring the Indian Mafia’s long reach. Expat Indian Army Captain Ranjit Singh is building a new life in New York as a cab driver and part-time security guard. When Ranjit snags Bollywood actress Shabana Shah as a fare after cruising luxury shopping lanes, he’s shocked to recognize her building’s bellman as his Indian Army buddy Mohan. Ranjit meets Mohan that night, and they catch up over gourmet leftovers in Shah’s empty apartment. It’s a great evening, but the next morning homicide cops show up demanding to know why Ranjit’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon used to brutally beat the actress. Ranjit’s going down for murder unless he gets answers from the suddenly vanished Mohan, but his search gets tangled in a violent Indian Mafia power struggle, and he quickly becomes a target. A strong, rapid-paced thriller with exotic interest; addictive reading. --Christine Tran
Review
"Great pacing and unforgettable details make this a procedural not to be missed." ―NPR, Best Books of 2015
“Ranjit Singh is one of the most entertaining and fully realized amateur detectives to appear in years….” ―Bethanne Patrick, The Washingtonian
“This sequel to The Caretaker (2013) is another solid success for Ahmad, who conjures up a fascinating cast of characters from mobsters to cab drivers, illuminating South Asian expat culture and exploring the Indian Mafia's long reach… A strong, rapid-paced thriller with exotic interest; addictive reading.” ―Booklist
“Ahmad does a wonderful job of conveying the vibrant underworld that has become Singh's new life. As the action unfolds in the old garages and cheap ethnic restaurants where the cabbies congregate and where jailhouse lawyers hold meetings in back rooms, he builds a vision of a city that is more "Slumdog Millionaire" (or "Dirty Pretty Things") than "Manhattan"…. [An] intriguing glimpse inside the South Asian immigrant experience, rich in flavors and expressions that can conjure a memory or throw a character back in time.” ―The Boston Globe
“This is stand-out genre writing; Ahmad packs a lot of sexy and intriguing muscle onto the skeleton of the detective formula. Singh is a compelling, attractive hero, and his journeys offer us a cross-section view of worlds too often invisible to those not living in them. The Last Taxi Ride is a pressure-cooked stew...” ―Jules Bentley, The Brooklyn Paper
“A.X. Ahmad takes us inside the immigrant experience, and for purposes of plot, it never hurts to have an "invisible man" with serious close-combat skills. It's interesting to see the U.S. from the perspective of a dark-skinned man in a turban.” ―Charlotte Observer
“Ahmad twists this crime novel scenario into a clever take on the corruption of India's film industry and the migration of its crime mobsters to New York....The Last Taxi Ride is an immigrant's-eye view of New York City's streets and American xenophobia masquerading as a whodunit. The tenacious Ranjit traverses its avenues and alleys like Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder in a turban. Ahmad ably brings to life a side of the city rarely seen by those who take for granted their nannies, doormen and cabbies.” ―Shelf Awareness
“Ranjit, ever the gallant Sikh, makes a winning hero in a mystery revealing of how Indians do business-legitimate or otherwise--in New York and around the world.” ―Publisher's Weekly
“Ahmad breathes life into the characters of Ranjit and New York City...utterly authentic and original.” ―NPR.org
“Ahmad intertwines a double narrative set some 20 years apart, seamlessly moving between the mafia-controlled glamour of Mumbai's film industry to the invisible-in-clear-view immigrant service world of multi-culti New York City. From oversized city rats to the designer-clad two-legged variety, from Dubai mansions to hidden Chinatown backrooms, from human hair to Prada couture, Ahmad deftly lures us into another heart-thumping, multi-twisted, law-defying adventure for his good Captain Singh.” ―The Smithsonian Book Dragon
“The Last Taxi Ride is an international ride of intrigue, murder, and struggle. Ahmad's characters…all behave in a nuanced, human fashion. The author weaves in Singh and Shah's individual struggles beautifully, and then ties all of those issues into the larger narrative. And it all plays out on a world stage.” ―Criminal Element
“As I read The Last Taxi Ride, I often found myself smiling, cringing or both and that was, for me, the mark of a solid read and Ahmad's promise as an author. He infuses the thriller with delightful notes like a Greek chorus of taxi drivers, running jokes that only get better as the plot progresses, and lyrical passages that deepen, rather than slow, the overall narrative.” ―Desi Writers Lounge
“I picked this novel up and devoured the entire thing in one sitting…. Ahmad's really honed his writing skills with this novel, delivering a breathless thriller while still maintaining intriguing character development and his gorgeous, descriptive writing. I'll be on the edge of my seat waiting for the final chapter in this trilogy.” ―S. Krishna's Books
“… Ranjit Singh is a Sikh and a former officer of the Indian army, a man who ranges the streets of Manhattan in a taxi cab and yet maintains the sensibilities of a vastly alien culture; a man who aims his laser-like vision at those same mean streets, forever changing our view of their chaos and pain. A stunningly fine novel. Noir as seen through a shimmering jewel, held up as an offering to Shiva.” ―Martin Limon, author of Nightmare Range
“I couldn't stop reading this beautiful, realistic and riveting second novel featuring Ranjit Singh. The novel takes the reader deep into New York's largely unseen immigrant world as well as the cutthroat backstage of the Bollywood film industry. The Last Taxi is one hell of a ride…” ―Sujata Massey, author of The Sleeping Dictionary and the Rei Shimura series
“[Takes] us on a harrowing ride through the desperate streets of Hindi Jackson Heights and Little Guyana to the glittering Bollywood backlots and the underworld of the Mumbai mafia. Full of action and surprises, The Last Taxi Ride is a dark slice of New York's South Asian demimonde, and author A.X. Ahmad knows the turf well. You can almost taste the roti and the kaali-daal, and readers will surely be hailing the next ride.” ―Henry Chang, author of Death Money and the Chinatown trilogy
About the Author A. X. AHMAD was raised in India, educated at Vassar College and M.I.T., and worked for many years as an international architect. He splits his time between Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, New York, and is also the author of The Caretaker.
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Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Thrilling Literature By Vickie I. Fang This is the second in a planned trilogy starring the immigrant Ranjit who contends with powerful and malevolent forces while struggling to make a living in a foreign land, to maintain his identity as a Sikh man, and to hold on to what is left of his shattered family. The set up is that taxi driver Ranjit is arrested for being an accessory to the murder of a washed up Bollywood actress in New York. The worlds in which he moves are a vibrant community of Pakistani and Indian cab drivers, organized crime in India that finances much of the entertainment industry there, the international hair trade, and shadowy, illegal night clubs that cater to the Indian mob. The novel is fast paced and thrilling, with one clever and clearly explained plot twist after another, but, even more importantly, it somehow still manages to take the time to let us really feel the lives of the characters and to see their surroundings.If a thug finally dies, we see his surprise that the life long image he had of himself as a man who can hurt others with impunity has come to an end. If innocents are triumphantly rescued, we're shown that the trauma of their ordeal is not easily shaken off. A man lives as a squatter in an abandoned room in a grand old apartment building, but he's also fascinated by the building's beauty and history, and so are we. Life in the cab company is exhausting and filled with indignities born for decades by men who claim their situation is "just temporary," but when one of their own is in danger, we believe in their sense of brotherhood.Ahmad is a serious writer of award winning "literary" short stories and essays. He has mastered the art of the complex thriller without leaving behind his ability to convey real people in real places. The result is a book that is all the more thrilling because it transports us into a dangerous, exciting, and vividly imagined world.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A Great Read By Gautam Datta This is a great, great read. It is the second in the series of crime novels with Ranjit Singh as the protagonist. The background is partly set in India but all the fast paced action takes place in Manhattan, Queens and New Jersey, all places which the author knows intimately. The story passes all the tests of a good detective story with ease- the suspense builds up and you cannot put the book down, you try to flip ahead to see what will happen to Ranjit and you are thoroughly confused since all the possible suspects could have done it. However, I found this to be much more than the usual crime novel. Ranjit grows on one. He is such a sensitive person without losing an iota of toughness! The quotes from the Sikh scriptures may seem pretentious for a crime novel but they bring out Ranjit's feelings in the context he is in perfectly. A lot of work has gone into developing the secondary characters and they will be remembered beyond the core plot in the ethnic, immigrant setting of NY described with authenticity and obvious affection by the author. I am looking forward to Ranjit's exploits in Southern California where he is headed next.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The best new suspense/mystery series since "The Girl Who..." By Castorag Got this and its sequel on recommendation from a book review I'm the Sunday paper. I read them both in one weekend, couldn't put them down. Excellent writing and plotting, character development, and it doesn't insult your intelligence by patronizingly defining every bit of Indian and Sikh cultural reference, allowing you to immerse yourself in it and pick it up naturally. Wonderful books. I am sorry to hear the author plans only a trilogy. I'd be first in line to beseech him to keep on writing about Ranjit Singh forever. Do I hear the movie industry calling?
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